Jades for Life and Death

Classification: Ceremonial Object

Historical period(s): Anyang period, Late Shang dynasty, ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE

Object Date: ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE

Medium: Jade (nephrite)

Dimension(s): H x W x D: 17.7 × 1.6 × 1.1 cm (7 × 5/8 × 7/16 in)

Origin: China, probably Henan province, Anyang

Credit Line: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

Collection: Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Accession Number: F1939.31

: 柄形器
晚商安陽時期（公元前1250--1050年）
中國，疑似河南安陽市
軟玉
高17.9、寬1.6、厚1.1釐米
查爾斯·蘭·佛利爾基金捐購
器物編號：F1939.31

Provenance: As early as 1928
Reportedly discovered at archeological sites in Anyang, Honan Province, China [1]

?-1939
Zhang Naiji (1899-1948), Shanghai, China and New York, NY from at least February 1939 [2]

From 1939
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased through C. T. Loo & Company, New York from Zhang Naiji on April 17, 1939 [3]

Notes:

[1] According to information provided by Zhang Naiji to John E. Lodge at the time of acquisition, see J.E. Lodge's note, 1939, in object file. Zhang Naiji stated that he had obtained the jades, selected by the Freer Gallery from a group of about 350 pieces offered for sale (F1939.6-F1939.26 and F1939.28-F1939.33), at the places of their excavation. Lodge commented in his 1939 note: "I see no good reason to doubt [Zhan g's] statement. I have, therefore, specified Shou Chou, or An-yang, or Lo-yang (Chin Ts'un) as the source of a piece in accordance with Mr. Chang's [Zhang's] designations given in my presence and recorded by me." Excavations at Anyang began in 1928.

[2] See note 1. See also "List of objects contemplated for purchase by Freer Gallery of Art," approved on February 1, 1939, Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, copy in object file. According to an annotation on the list, the purchase was made from C. T. Loo & Company, New York acting as agent for the owner and the payment was made on April 17, 1939. Zhang Naiji (also known as N.C. Chang) was a businessman, born to a prestigious family in Zhejiang that made their wealth in the silk and salt industries. He collected ancient Chinese art objects and Chinese coins. Zhang amassed his collection whilst living in Shanghai, before leaving for America in 1938. Zhang did not return to China until 1946. While the earliest documentation of Zhang's ownership of the jade dates to February 1939, we know that he acquired the objects in China before his departure.

[3] See "List of objects contemplated for purchase by Freer Gallery of Art," cited in note 2.

Previous owner(s): Zhang Naiji 張乃驥 (1899-1948)
C.T. Loo & Company (1914-1948)
C. T. Loo 盧芹齋 (1880-1957)

Description: Handle (one corner chipped) of slightly translucent, dark, gray-green nephrite; the tang pierced for attachment.

Past label text: 1. (Keith Wilson, Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, February 25, 2023 to April 28, 2024)

Tablet
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler S1987.671

Tablet
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment F1939.31

Tablet
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler S1987.493

Tablet
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Marble
The Dr. Paul Singer Collection of Chinese Art of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; a joint gift of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, Paul singer, the AMS Foundation for the arts, sciences, and humanities, and the children of Arthur M. Sackler S2012.9.283

Tablet
Anyang period, ca. 1250–1050 BCE
Jade (nephrite)
Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1915.234

Ritual in the Afterlife
The contents of Anyang tombs reveal the need to continue rituals in the afterlife. In addition to bronze food and wine containers, stone handle-shaped objects like the five seen here are sometimes found inscribed with the honorific names used for deceased ancestors, suggesting they played a role in spiritual offerings. Other objects may have been specifically created for burial, like miniature, unfinished, and fragmentary jade dagger-axes; along with thin, impractical bronze examples, they offered symbolic protection. Both human and animal sacrifice also feature regularly in Anyang tombs, and a small bronze collar bell is often found with the skeleton of a dog buried directly below the main tomb occupant. Such funerary goods exhibit the same surface patterns found on other Anyang ritual objects.

Curatorial Remarks

1. Bought through C. T. Loo [Lu Qinzhai] 盧芹齋 and Co., New York, from Chang Nai chi [Zhang NaiJi] 張乃驥. For price, see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List after 1920.

2. (John Ellerton Lodge, 1939) See Folder Sheet F1939.6.

3. Several pieces resembling this one more or less in form have been published by Paul Pelliot, Jades Archaïques de Chine Appartenant a M. C. T. Loo (Paris et Bruxelles: G. van Oest, 1925), Pl. XII; Alfred Salmony, Carved Jade of Ancient China (Berkeley, CA: Gillick Press, 1938), Pls IX: 1 and XX: 1, who, oddly enough, attributes a Shang 商 date to the dagger handle shown in his Plate IX, and an "early Western Chou [Zhou] 周" date to the handle of a similar type shown in his Plate XX.

4. (Thomas Lawton, 1978) See Max Loehr, Ancient Chinese Jades from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection in the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1975), nos. 112, 113, and 114.

5. (Julia K. Murray, 1981) Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫 reproduces a similar piece which he calls a ta kuei [Da gui] 大圭 and which he described as a handle to be used together with a type of cup called tsan [zan] 瓚 in libation ceremonies.

See Hayashi Minao 林巳奈夫, "In, Sei Shū jidai reiki no reibetsu to yōhō 殷、西周時代禮器の類別と用法 = The Classification and uses of Shang and Western Chou ritual bronze vessels," Tōhō gakuhō 東方學報 53 (1981), p. 14, fig. 7, and text pp. 13--15.

(Hayashi 林 does acknowledge the difficulty of explaining why so many jade "handles" but no corresponding cups have been found--a circumstance that casts doubt on the theory.)

6. (Jeffrey Smith per Keith Wilson, July 16, 2008) Ceremonial object added as secondary classification.

7. (Stephen Allee, November 10, 2008) As per Jenny F. So, Jade Project catalogue, changed Period one from "Shang 商 dynasty" to Late Shang 商--Early Western Zhou 周 dynasty"; added Previous Owner to Constituents (Ex-collection Zhang Naiji 張乃驥); changed Title from "Handle" to "Handle decorated with sharp overlapping scales"; and added Dimensions as per Christine Lee.

8. (Stephen Allee, June 02, 2009) Corrected name of Previous Owner from Zhang Naiqi to Zhang Naiji 張乃驥 and added Chinese characters, as well as his life dates (1899--1948) and a brief biography.

9. (Susan Kitsoulis per Keith Wilson, April 20, 2010) Object Name changed from "Handle" to "Ceremonial object." Title changed from "Handle decorated with sharp overlapping scales" to "Ancestor tablet."

10. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, August 3, 2017) Object name changed from "Ceremonial object" to "Tablet"; period one changed from "Late Shang-Early Western Zhou dynasty" to "Middle Shang dynasty"; date changed from "12th-11th century BCE"; medium changed from "jade" to "Jade (nephrite)".

11. (Najiba Choudhury per Keith Wilson, December 12, 2018) Translation added by Jingmin Zhang.
12. (YinYing Chen per Keith Wilson, February 13, 2023)
Change title from "Ancestor tablet" to "Tablet."
Change object name from "Tablet" to "Ritual object: Tablet."
Change period from "Middle Shang dynasty" to "Late Shang dynasty, Anyang period."
Change period from "中商" to "晚商安陽時期" in the translation field.
Change date from "ca. 1400-ca. 1300 BCE" to "ca. 1250-ca. 1050 BCE."
Change date from "公元前1400-1300年" to "公元前1250-1050年" in the translation field.
Change geography from "China" to "China, probably Henan province, Anyang."
Change georgraphy from "中國" to "中國，疑似河南安陽市" in the translation field.

Published References

J. Keith Wilson, Jingmin Zhang. Jades for Life and Death. .
Archibald Gibson Wenley. Early Chinese Jade. vol. 63, no. 5 Washington, November 1946. p. 343.

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